Stealth Stalker Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) We had another organized day yesterday on the rape, problem was finding the rape! the fields were still covered in a hard crust of snow :o I've never decoyed in the snow, so it was with mixed thoughts when we met at 6.30am in the farmers office, pegs were drawn & we went to our allocated fields, my idea of brushing away the snow to create a feeding patch was a non starter as it had a hard ice crust So I decided to go with some lofted deeks & 8 dead birds in cradles, after an hour of not seeing a bird I decided to find some thawed out rape in another field, as I could here from the other hides some sporadic shots ringing out. I found a strip of about 20 yds in the lee of some tall conifers that looked promising as there was very little rape showing on any of the other fields. I had a cosy hide on the edge of the conifers with some lofted deeks in the trees & the rotary with some dead birds in cradles on the strip of thawed rape. Everthing looked good but the birds weren't having any of it, they just would not decoy & on the radios the other boys were finding the same, deeks were moved, whirly off, flapper, bouncers everything & still not a bird showing any interest, there were flocks of 3-4000 in the area but they were content to sit in the trees I finished with only 3 birds shot, 2 of which were cracking birds taken off the flightline when I had a wander. The overall tally for the day was only 29 birds from 6 hides I still enjoyed the day being out & learning a few lessons, I've got a theory that the birds get snow blindness & can't see a decoy layout on the deck cos they were following other birds in the air? Pelty took the sweep money with a whopping tally of 9 birds :look: SS Edited February 8, 2009 by Stealth Stalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Beater Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Unlucky SS, Had the same problem on friday morning, 1inch of snow on the ground, set up 1st light bout 500/600 started flying rd but showed no interest in decoying just sat in trees on edge of field. Then they all cleared off & came back in groups of 30 odd all morning to sitting trees. ended with 6. Your theory could well be right ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seisobs Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Had exactly the same Friday. Also ended up with 6 birds, not one came into the deeks, they were all high and fast. Who cares, a day out is a day out, still enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocker3 Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 had the same problem on sat morning it snowed first thing and when we got to the shoot there were 600-700 birds on the rape but we just could not get them to decoy 6 guns 8 fields every time we moved they just went to the next field or wood .we shot 34 birds but hey beater than goin shopping with the wife lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadkill Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 i tried this morning but gave up not a bird in site and far to much snow on the ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Looks like you have got a good set up, it is a shame you did not get many, but as long as you enjoyed yourself then that is the main thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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